i hate drama
As of today, I have resigned volunteering with Missouri PitBull Rescue.
I cannot express how sad I am for having to leave, but I cannot deal with the drama surrounding this half-assed dis-organization. I agree with the mission and ideals, but I am too old to pretend I'm in high school spending my time gossiping. So many of the board members are two-faced, and the president is an outright liar.
Everything came to a head when I was asked to put together a cookbook. I got approval for it via email and went on with the printing. At the time, we were having a "dog crisis", so i said that i would pay for the books up front, then get reimbursed. That way, MPR wouldn't have to put it on the credit card.
Last week, i held a garage sale at my house, with 100% of the proceeds going to MPR. We made close to $1000 on the garage sale items and cookbooks. Once the sale was over, i told the president the total of the sale, and that i would deduct my $372 from the printing costs of the cookbooks. I had a receipt for her, and she could pick up the money whenever. She flipped the F out. She starting saying how the cookbooks were my deal, and if they all sold then I could get my money back-- which wasn't the original deal.
She told me that she would be at my house on Wednesday night at 7pm. Well, no one showed up. Finally today, 2 volunteers and a board member came over to get the money. We gave them all of our MPR items and said that we were done. They had requested earlier that the puppies we were fostering go to another house-- fine with me.
Not even one minute after they left, the president of MPR called and started yelling on the phone to my husband. She said we stole the $372 (cause we had already deposited that money into our checking account to cover the cost of the books), and now tons of pitbulls were going to die because of us. Later, she sent emails out to the group saying that we stole the money and abandoned the puppies!
I may be a lot of things, but I am not a thief, and I am not a liar. If MPR would shut their traps and sell the cookbooks, they could make $1200-- but they'd rather boo-hoo, and make me out to be an evil person.
I loved doing animal rescue. I didn't care if i was covered in dirt and dog hair, running across town to help animals. The only time i had any problems was when the board members [ie the pres] were disrespectful to me. I am so sad that this happened the way it did. I would like to do rescue again, but now I'm afraid that all organizations are run this badly.
Comments
If the cookbooks were "your deal" then you are entitled to be reimbursed for the cost of printing. It makes no difference if you did it at the beginning or at the end, except to Madame President. Do you think they would have waited until all the books sold to reimburse themselves?
Vicious people are around all over, but don't assume that all rescues are run by them. If you want to be involved, look around and start slow. You may be able to find a good one by contacting your local animal shelter. They work with lots of rescues and usually know about the people who run them.
The first dog we fostered was with them and while it wasn't a horrible experience it wasn't the best either. We're glad that we found another organization and have been volunteering with them for three years now.
There are good and bad organizations out there. Some of them have the wrong methods of doing business and saving animals. Definitely ask questions and research groups and find another.